Where we live' affects 'How we live'. Information about 'how one lives' collected from the public health surveillance data such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Neighborhood environment surrounding individuals affects their health behavior or health status are influenced as well as their own traits. Meanwhile, geographical information of subjects recruited in the health behavior surveillance data is usually aggregated at administrative levels such as a county. Even if we do not know accurate addresses of individuals, we can allocate them to the random locations where is analogous to their real home within a locality using a geo-imputation method. In this study, we assess the association between obesity and built environment by applying random property allocation.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the effects of urban physical environment on individual obesity using geographically aggregated health behavior surveillance data applying a geo-imputation method.